PAMPHLET (of uncertain etymology). A small honk, whether stitched or bound, with or without (-ovens, writt(cta to provoke discussion on some topic of current interest. On its first ap pearance among English writers, the word seems to have been used to designate any bo(iklet, what ever its aim. It was so employed V Richard of Bury (died 1345). in his Phi/obildon, a Latin hand-book to his library at College; and by Caxton in his Eneydas (1490), where printed matter is classed 'pannilettis and booky-2 Sometimes single pieces of verse in manuscript or in print were also called mum phlets by the poets of the fifteenth eentnry. But since the Reformation. when pamphlets began to be employed in controversy, the have coun t() stand mainly for a class of writings that deal with questions of the (lay, in politics, religion, and literature. They are thus to be differen tiated front academic theses and dissertations and from all other short scientific treatise; written with a calm didactic aim. Besides being brief, pamphlets are spirited in style and often vehe ment and angry in tone. The sober pamphlet is represented by Sidney's Apology for rfo try, and the vehement by i\lilton's Trmurr• of Kings and Magistrates. Both are pamphlets by virtue of their controversial aims.
A. history of English pamphlets would fall lit tle short of a history of English institutions from the establishment of the of Tudor to the deal h of Georne I11. In them is nowhere else is to be found the story of the tierce contro versies whereby Protestantism won against the Roman Catholic Chrch, and whereby the English people wrested from their kings their sm.ial and political rights. Several hot debates have also marked the course of our literature. Somewhat earlier than the date here assigned. the pam phleteer was abroad. Mehl. for e \ample, cir culated among the people little sheets copied by the poor priests. in which an appeal was made against the abuses of the professional clergy :Ind against the current authority in re ligion. Of these tracts the Sr ptcnt the most (anions. The beginning of the IZeformation in England has Leen ascribed, of course with exaggeration, to the,s'upidyemyon of Ifrogars (1529) of Simon Fish. copies of whieh were strewn abroad in the streets of London. apparently with the connivance of Henry As no other pamphlet had yet (lone. it hit the toddle view concerning "the is 01 VI goimy in shepherds' clothing and devourire,? the flock." With little effect Sir Thomas More re plied to Fish in the Supplycacyon of Soulys. This incident is hut an example of what was taking place everywhere throughout the Reforma tion period. Erasmus. Luther, and Melanchthon
were all pamphleteers. The Anglican Church was no sooner established than it was attacked by the Puritans, for example. by Thomas Cart wright in an Admonition to the Parliament (1372). Then followed the Martin Marprelate controversy (q.v.), the most heated religious dispute in the reign of Elizabeth. At this time, too, were debated, in stitched sheets of varying length, questions in literature, especially the essence and form of poetry, and the principles underlying the drama. In these discussions some of the great Elizabethans bore a hand, like Cam pion, Daniel. and Sidney.
Numerous as were the pamphlets in the Eliza bethan age, they were but a sign of the deluge that was to come during the great Civil War, when the passions of sects and factions rap high. Prynne alone,•it is estimated, was the author of nearly two hundred pamphlets, of which may be cited A Looking Glass for All Lordly Prelates. If he was the most prolific of all the Puritan pamphleteers, it must be remembered that he was only one among hundreds. Indeed, on both the Puritan and Royalist sides the news-letters which were issued in all the larger towns were little more than controversial pamphlets. Mil ton dropped his poetry and entered the lists on a variety of questions, discussing in turn edu cation, divorce, the press, and the right to put to death kings and magistrates. Substantial as are Milton's tractates, as lie sometimes called them, he was surpassed in brevity and directness by Col. Edward Sexily in Killing No Murder (1657), addressed to 'llis Ifighness, Oliver Crom well,' and containing the memorable sentence: "Let this consideration arm and fortify your Highness's mind against the fears of death, and the terrors of your evil conscience, that the good yon will do by your death will something balance the evils of your life." After the Restoration (1660), freedom to print was strongly repressed by the Government, and pamphlets had to be printed and circu lated privately. Still, one should not forget A Rough. Draft of a. New Alodel at Sea (passed about in manuscript during 1667), in whk•li George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, attacked the scandalous hehavior of the navy in the 'war with the Dutch; nor the protests of the Quaker George Fox against the formalism of the estab lished Church; nor the virulent debate between Samuel Parker and Andrew Marvell on the re lation of Church and State. Much of the litera ture of the time, as Dryden's essays and satires, was also controversial in tone and was issued in pamphlet form.